Avalanche kills heli-skier on B.C.'s Jumbo Glacier

A 34-year-old German heli-skier has died after an avalanche on Jumbo Glacier in southeastern British Columbia on Monday.

RCMP say the man was unresponsive after he was recovered from beneath the snow by a heli guide and other skiers, and attempts to revive him failed.

The man's name was not released.

A second skier was completely buried and a third skier partially buried, but others in the group were able to dig them out. They suffered only non-life threatening injuries.

The skiers -- all from Germany -- were on their sixth run when the slide struck.

Staff Sgt. Marko Shehovac says friends helped police notify the man's next of kin in Germany, and the Coroners Service is investigating.

Stable snowpack

The German man's death was the second in B.C. this season following an avalanche.

In October, a 50-year-old surveyor was engulfed while working at a minerals camp 50km outside Stewart, in northeastern B.C., near the Alaska border. Another man was able to escape the slide and was not hurt.

Mary Clayton, spokesperson for the Canadian Avalanche Centre, said a stable snowpack this year may be one of the factors in the fewer number of avalanche deaths this year.

"The 10-year average in Canada is 14 deaths from avalanches every year. The last three years has been under that and this year there are only two so far. But winter's not over yet."